This disclosure relates generally to video conferencing systems. Video conference systems that use specially-configured video conference studios have been developed to provide the look and feel of a face-to-face conference. Such systems can include a pair (or more) of specially-configured video conference studios that each include seating places for multiple persons facing one or more video conference displays. One or more video conference cameras take images of the persons in each room, and provide the respective images to corresponding video displays in the other video conference studios, wherever they are located.
In this type of video conference arrangement, the participants can see and hear the other participants as if they were all together in the same room. With the video conference cameras properly oriented and a suitable background in each conference room, this configuration can provide a blended video conference environment that approximates the appearance of a face-to-face conference session.
When such a video conference is established between two specialized video conference studios, it can be difficult to include one or more participants that are located at a third location, and who may not be in a specialized video conference studio. For example, in a two-way video conference between specially-configured video conference studios, it can be desirable to insert a view of someone at a third location. With some current studio configurations this is not easy to do while still maintaining a blended look to the video conference.